While preparing for a marketing presentation at the International Business Summit on March 11th in Tampa, I took a step back for a moment to think about the core of marketing, or as I like to call it marketing 101. Is it the 4 popular P’s? Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Close but not quite what I am shooting for so try this one on for size, business owners.

Every business should ask themselves these 4 questions:

What business are we in?

Who are our customers?

What do they want that we can provide?

What information do they need?

With the explosive growth of search, social media, mobile technology, etc. marketing has changed in delivery but not in core concept. You still have a business that needs customers to thrive and the closer we understand those 4 questions the better chance of success. Let’s put this into a real life example with a Jamba Juice location. I have assumed that you may of heard about Jamba Juice but just in case included some photos.

Inside the store
(no, that’s not me and do you see the display of fresh fruit in background, bright colors and display)

What business are we in?Jamba Juice offers made to order custom smoothies, fruit and snacks in over 700 locations within 30 states. In addition to smoothies, they offer teas, snacks and fresh squeezed juices (I recommend the OJ!). They offer a healthy alternative to fast food with small storefronts and quick service.

Who are our customers?Health conscious customers who want a fruit smoothie or snack for themselves, family or business on a local level. They are willing to spend $3-$5 for a smoothie, have mid to high level income and made a personal choice to visit the store over an alternative. These customers have plenty of options and need a reason to return often. I wanted to also stress that the younger demographic bonds with Jamba Juice as various photos exist of celebrities enjoying the smoothies. For example, Joe Jonas, Dakota Fanning, Ben Affleck, Lisa Rinna, Rachel Bilson, Reese Witherspoon, Shia LaBeouf and more grasp those Jamba Juice for photos on a regular basis which helps!

What do they want that we can provide?Customers want variety of smoothies, excellent taste, value and feeling they had healthy food. They require fast service, clean environment, parking (if feasible) and positive customer service.

What information do they need?Customers require an easy to read menu, options, nutritional information and a confirmation that they did the right thing by visiting a Jamba Juice.

However, why should the customer return to Jamba Juice?

This is key right here, in questions 1-3 we defined what Jamba Juice is, customers and service offering but what is missing is the reason to return. Jamba Juice locations need to embrace internet marketing further to create a reason to return.

How can Jamba Juice get more customers?

Integrate mobile text messaging! The local customers who visit Jamba Juice all have cell phones and what if Jamba Juice was able to send a text message out with an alert about a Buy 1 get 1 Free promotion instead of using print ads? After the text is received, they return to the store and show the proof of the text or a coupon code to receive the discount. Jamba Juice tabulates the information and starts to understand how to instantly create sales with segmentation. By the way, they could also introduce mobile voting and integrate social media updates just like on American Idol!

My favorite mobile text platform with social media integration service for this is Trumpia (disclosure – I am a partner, and they are great!)

Social Media! Really no reason why you can’t interact with your fans. With Facebook Fan pages, FourSquare, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube the ability to create local bonds is unlimited. This area alone requires another post for Marketing 102 so stay tuned on that one or come to Tampa!

Email – it’s as easy as asking for an email address. Integrate into an email campaign and connect.

Search! Local customers are using the internet at home, office and on the cellphone to figure out where they want to go. Add your listing to local search.

Advertising - Facebook advertising allows you to target by age, region, interests and more on a local level directly on the users page. Google Adwords & Mobile advertising options offers you additional targeting to round out your approach.

Other options – Blog , Videos, Events, Contests, etc.

Overall, basic marketing questions are the same but the options to understand and communicate with your customers have evolved. As a business owner you need to embrace the changes and use to your advantage or you may just be left behind!

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